Foreign fighters among militants in Philippines

Reserve soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

But, even though the region is a known hotbed of Islamist militants, the troops were taken by surprise when dozens of gunmen emerged to defend Hapilon, then go on a deadly rampage throughout the city.

Duterte on Tuesday declared martial law for the entirety of Mindanao-home to 22 million people.

Hundreds of civilians had sheltered in a military camp in Marawi City as troops helped clear the few remaining people from streets where smoke lingered in the air.

The violence has forced thousands to flee and raised fears of growing extremism in the country.

“I am here to say to you to fight, I will pray for you, and answer everything”, Duterte said. “You can arrest any person, search any house without warrant”, said Duterte, who has been criticized for the deaths of thousands of people in a crackdown on illegal drugs. Another government official listed Singaporeans as also among the militants.

On the election campaign Duterte said he had two mistresses but jokingly reassured taxpayers that he would not cost them much if he was president because he took them to cheap, short-time hotels for sex. Duterte has told police to “spare no one” fighting them and has assured terrorists, “you will die” if confronting officers. “I’m just praying that the bullets will not find its way to my house and hit us”. The government says Hapilon has been the point man for Islamic State in the Philippines and has been collaborating with Maute leaders.

Gen Ano predicted that the military operation will take about a week as soldiers go house-to-house to clear the city of militants. “So they said, well, we have the framework in place through our agreements to cooperate”, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano said on Wednesday. We have everything. Wala kayong problema.

It has transmogrified into an invasion by foreign fighters, ” Solicitor General Jose Calida said in Davao City. In 2005, the US Treasury Department seized Hapilon’s assets for suspected terrorist activities and association with Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Malabang Police Chief Romeo Enriquez told The Associated on Friday that he is fine.

The gunmen belong to the Maute group, which, along with Hapilon’s faction of the Abu Sayyaf, has pledged allegiance to ISIL, authorities said.

The United States has placed a $5 million bounty on his head for alleged terrorist acts against American citizens.

The admission confirms what observers see as moves by IS targeting the majority Muslim southern Philippines to establish a stronghold in South East Asia.

Manila has deployed Special Forces, armored vehicle battalions and attack choppers following Duterte’s declaration of martial law earlier in the week.

Muslim rebels have been fighting since the 1970s for an independent or autonomous homeland in Mindanao, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives. The President issued the pronouncement as sporadic fighting between government troops and local terror groups continued in some parts of Marawi City, 45 kilometers southwest of Iligan City.

Mr Duterte warned he may expand martial law nationwide, an unnerving development for many in the Philippines who lived through the rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

But he has also indicated that martial law could be expanded to the rest of the country if he felt it was necessary, a potentially controversial move in a nation that spent nearly a decade under martial law under Ferdinand Marcos.